President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to re-appoint Malusi Gigaba as Minister of Home Affairs is nothing but a mockery of our judiciary system and a failure to hold Gupta-linked Ministers accountable for their role in state capture.

Judge Neil Tuchten of the North Gauteng High Court found in February 2018 that Gigaba, when he was still Home Affairs Minister, ‘deliberately told untruths under oath’ and that ‘he committed a breach of the constitution so serious that I could characterize it as a violation’.

The DA finds it inconceivable that not only did President Ramaphosa ignore this damning finding and entrusted executive authority to an individual who was found to have lied under oath, but that he then reappointed him to the very same position in which he previous violated the Constitution.

This judgement us not the only stain on Gigaba’s record. When he was Minister of Public Enterprises in 2010, he brazenly restructured State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) boards and senior management to pave the way for Gupta networks to loot billions of rands.

Under Gigaba’s instruction, the Guptas were controversially granted citizenship, in an alleged violation of our immigration laws, and for which he has refused to account for.

The evidence of corruption and impropriety against Gigaba is such that he should have been shown the door together with other Gupta ministers who were fired yesterday.

President Ramaphosa’s claim of a new dawn is quickly degenerating into a false dawn as he continues to accommodate and retain deeply compromised Ministers, like Gigaba.

However, Gigaba will be made to answer for his role in state capture in the upcoming Judicial Commission of Inquiry, to be chaired by Judge Zondo.

In the meantime, the DA will ensure that the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs will hold Minister Gigaba accountable for his role in facilitating a path to citizenship for the Guptas without following proper procedure.

 

Issued by DA